Iowa state parks is getting ready for its 100th anniversary in 2020, and we invite you to join statewide Volunteer Day on September 28! More than 40 parks need volunteers to help paint buildings, repair tables, trim branches, plant trees, pick up litter and more! All ages are welcome, along with varying levels of experience. Check out individual state park volunteer events in the list below, and thanks for lending a helping hand.

On Sunday, September 29, come to Prairie Rose for a variety of volunteer opportunities. Depending upon the number of volunteers, we will begin painting the fire rings in the campground, replace boards on picnic tables, and restain two park structures. Statewide Volunteer Day is September 28, but Prairie Rose is hosting its volunteer activities the following day.

We will paint and stain small park structures and construct a new check-in area. We will also replace picnic table boards and paint the legs.

What to Bring:

Wear old clothes.

Volunteers Needed: 10-20

Contact: Park office 712-326-2786

Wildcat Den

9:00 AM

Meeting Location:

Park Office

Park Address: 1884 Wildcat Road, Muscatine, IA 52761

Description:

Invasive species removal around office and mill trail entrance.

What to Bring:

Bring gloves and loppers if you have them.

Volunteers Needed: 10-20

Contact: Park office (563) 263-4337

Yellow River State Forest

8:30 AM

Meeting Location:

Sawmill Office Complex

Park Address: 729 State Forest Road, Harpers Ferry, IA 52146

Description:

Construct 30 new picnic tables and attach pre-cut boards to frames.

What to Bring:

Bring gloves.

Volunteers: 20

Contact: Park Office (563) 586-2254

Volunteer Opportunities

+ Become a Campground Host

If you like to camp and meet new people, this is the volunteer experience for you! The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is looking for campground hosts to live in our state parks for the months of April – October helping DNR staff with light maintenance duties, checking in campers, and being a resource for visitors enjoying our state parks and forests.

Campground hosts are provided a free campsite while they are actively hosting during the camping season. Hosts volunteer 20 – 40 hours per week, including weekends and holidays, while living on site in their own camper.

Campground hosts . . .

work with DNR staff to ensure that campers have the best experience possible in Iowa’s state parks

For more information, please call 515-725-8489 or contact your local DNR park, forest or preserve.

+ Natural Resource Educator

Volunteers needed to assist with programming at Springbrook, Walnut Woods and Lake Anita state parks. Ideal volunteers would have a teaching or science background and enjoy leading natural resources educational programming and outdoor skills training, primarily for children. Volunteers are needed at Springbrook to assist with school groups on weekdays in April and May. Summer programming assistance is needed at all three parks during the weekdays and weekends.

Special events are planned by Iowa DNR and our partners calling on volunteers to come together for a purpose. A popular example of a special event is our
Watershed Awareness River Expedition (AWARE) Project. Each year a river or watershed is designated for clean up. It’s a hands on volunteer experience where you can volunteer for as little as a few hours or for the whole week.

Iowa's locally-led volunteer water quality monitoring program, empowers watershed and conservation groups to take a proactive approach to water quality. By engaging volunteers to monitor water quality in their project areas, they can ensure the protection, longevity and productivity of high quality water resources, as well as evaluate, assess, and improve those of lower quality.

+ State Lands Volunteer Program

The State Lands Volunteer Program allows select nonprofit organizations and individuals providing services on behalf of them to be eligible for liability protection under Iowa Code chapter 669 (Iowa Tort Claims Act) while performing qualifying volunteer services for the DNR. These nonprofit organizations and the individuals providing services on their behalf are considered state volunteers while providing authorized volunteer services for no compensation.

Who can participate?
For the purpose of this program a volunteer means an organization incorporated under Iowa Code chapter 504 as a nonprofit organization, or an individual providing services on behalf of the nonprofit organization, that provides volunteer services for the benefit of lands under the jurisdiction of the department and that registers as a volunteer under this program. A volunteer may include a friends group or organization as defined in rule 571—14.1(461A). A volunteer shall not include an organization or individual that operates a concession operation as defined in rule 571—14.1(461A), unless that concession operation remits all receipts and returns all net proceeds after qualifying expenses from such operations to the department for the benefit of the state parks system or otherwise procures goods or services for the benefit of the DNR.

What are qualifying volunteer services?
Qualifying volunteer services are, unless otherwise specified, limited to activities undertaken on lands under the jurisdiction of the DNR to benefit such lands. Volunteer services do not include any administrative functions of a nonprofit organization registered under this program. Some of the most common types of volunteer services include organized work days, special events, and concession operations.

All submitted registration forms will be reviewed by the DNR to determine whether the registrant will be designated a volunteer under this program. The DNR will evaluate the volunteer’s ability to perform the services, the DNR’s identified need for such services, and the DNR’s ability to manage the volunteer’s proposed activities, if applicable.

DNR will issue an authorization letter to those registrants who will be admitted to the program. The authorization letter will state the terms of the registrant’s participation in the program. The DNR may authorize the registrant’s proposed activities in part and deny them in part and may provide reasons for any program denials. Registration must be renewed every other year or as soon as substantial changes are planned to the approved services contained in the authorization letter, whichever occurs first.

The Volunteer Wildlife Monitoring Program (VWMP) is for enthusiastic and sharp-eyed, sharp-eared volunteers who have a passion for wildlife and its conservation. With more than 800 species in our state, the wildlife staff cannot possibly keep track of all these critters in every corner of the state. We need volunteers that are willing and interested in collecting data on two important and sensitive groups of wildlife.

Our MissionTo conserve and enhance ournatural resources in cooperationwith individuals and organizationsto improve the quality of life in Iowa and ensure a legacy forfuture generations.